Arvind Kejriwal sworn in as Chief Minister of New Delhi and follows Lincoln's idea of government

New Delhi, India. Mr. Arvind Kejriwal is sworn in as the 7th Chief Minister (Governor) of New Delhi, a Union Territory of India, in the likes of Puerto Rico in the United States.

Governor Najeeb Jung Swearing in Chief Minister Arvind Kajriwal

80,000 people packed the historical Ramlila Maidan (grounds) for the swearing-in ceremony. Kejriwal received thunderous applause for just about every sentence he uttered in his opening speech. The people of Delhi were in a mood for an honest uncorrupted politician; it was similar to the Obama moment on November 4, 2008. I was moved when he said, "The politics of this country has destroyed everything, but people have shown that honest politics is possible. Elections can be fought with honesty and won with honesty."

Arvind Kejriwal is practicing what Abraham Lincoln had envisioned about government; of the people for the people by the people.

This is a historic moment in Indian democracy for common man to have a say. Traditionally the multi-party system coalesces into two major coalitions; the National Democratic Alliance with Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) as its anchor party, and the United Progressive Alliance with Indian National Congress (INC) as its anchor.

The voters of the state of New Delhi have defeated the incumbent Congress party by reducing them to 8 seats in the assembly of 70 seats; 33 went to Bharatiya Janata Party, 2 short of forming the government, and 28 seats to the brand new, less than a year-old AAP -- Aam Aadmi Party, the common man's party.

The party head Arvind Kejriwal was asked to form the government as BJP could not form the government. The congress party offered their support of their 8 members, giving AAP a 36-seat majority in the house.

Kejriwal refused to form the government, and said becoming the governing party is not important but ensuring proper governance is the way to go forward. Instead of grabbing the power he rejected the offer. Arvind Kejriwal reminds me of Nelson Mandela who walked away from power for another term.

A genuine democracy must be a natural thing to humans who respect the otherness of others. Kejriwal is one such fellow, and did the right thing by asking the very people who elected him to deliberate and decide if he should form the government. Indeed, Mr. Kejriwal is reclaiming what it means to be the government of the people.

The public said, he should form the government provided the support from the Congress is firm, and congress having no options, gave him unconditional support to form the government.

Prior to Swearing in Ceremony governor Jung and Kajriwal(image by LiveMint.com)

The world can learn about austerity from Mr. Kejriwal. The members of the United States Congress believe austerity means cutting off on food stamps and unemployment benefits to the needy, making them more miserable and unproductive. Shamelessly, when the government shut-down happened, the members of the US Congress got paid and denied the same to ordinary government workers. Kejriwal believes the austerity begins from the top. He took the subway to Ramlila grounds where swearing in ceremony took place, and he plans to live in his own house and has asked his ministers to do the same.

He urged his cabinet ministers to remain humble and not fall into the trapping of power and become arrogant. He has taken a strong stand against corruption and bribes, and has promised not to spare any one. He was vigilant and covered most bases, "Sometimes I am very scared as people have pinned their hopes on us and I pray to God to give us courage and keep us on right track so that we don't commit any mistake."

He has a bold message for Indian National Congress; inclusiveness without pragati (progress) will not cut it, and the message to Bharatiya Janata Party; unnati (prosperity) without inclusiveness is not sustainable either.

Democracy works! This man Arvind Kejriwal did not have money like the other two parties, but had clearly defined goals and won the hearts and minds of the people. Indeed Obama had a clear mission; inclusive goals for the greater good of Americans against Romney's wealthy supporters who funded nearly a billion dollars to his campaign in vain.

The government of people by the people for the people is a good foundation for sustainable democracies. I wish Mr. Kejriwal the very best in delivering goodness to benefit citizens at large, inclusive of those who opposed him.

The only worry, I have about the Aam Aadmi Party is -- how will they ensure the corrupt people from creeping in to their system? As long as they are a Delhi-based manageable party, they would be fine, but if they go national, do they have the time to place safeguards and checks and balances in place?

In a press conference in December 2001, General Pervaz Musharraf gave me 6-7 minutes' time in the midst of huge media crowd in Washington DC. My major question to him besides Cricket Diplomacy was -- have you got a "what-if plan"; should you not be there, do you have institutions built up to carry the democracy forward? His answer was typical Desi -- Oh, yes, don't worry, we have figured it out everything.

I will ask the same question to Arvind Kejriwal, what if you fall sick or die in an accident, is your system in place to move forward on its own? Do you have enough people deeply oriented with your ideals to carry the mantle? A sustainable government should be based on a system and not individuals.

My recommendation for Kejriwal is to remain in Delhi and prove that his system works, and resist the temptation to expand to other parts of the country and not dilute his mission.

IBN network has bestowed the Indian of the year award to Arvind Kejriwal, a well-deserved award. Congratulations Mr. Kejriwal! The following 6 minutes' video on YouTube is worth watching to understand a genuine democracy -- of the people by the people for the people with apologies to those who do not understand Hindi/Urdu.

Disclosure: I am a moderate Republican who supports Obama for his inclusive policies that benefit the society at large, and a supporter of Indian National Congress for their inclusive governance.

http://www.MikeGhouse.net

Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a speaker, thinker, writer and a frequent guest on Hannity show and nationally syndicated Radio shows and Dallas TV, Radio and Print (more...)

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REAL ESTATE IN INDIA

INDIAN HEROES

These are the men and women from among Hindus, Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jews, and other traditions that are deeply committed to the idea of One India and one people acknowledging the uniqueness of each one of the Indians.

Their work brings people together, their effort is to restore harmony among Indians unlike some lost souls who are hell bent on pitting one Indian against the other.

Lord Krishna had said, whenever the negative forces become stronger in dividing families and disrupt peace and harmony, he will emerge among them to restore sanity, the same idea is reflected in Quran, that God does not deprive his goodness to anyone and sends a peacemaker to every community and nation. After the founding fathers of the nation, these are our real heroes restoring dharma – the righteousness. Dharma is when people get along, mind their own business, live their lives and let others live theirs. God has created all of us and respects each one of us is the highest form of worship.

I salute them for their work and they come from all walks of life. They see you as an Indian and nothing but an Indian. They believe every human should be free to eat, drink, wear or believe whatever he or she wants in the pursuit of their happiness.

Please share stories of such Indians who have made efforts to build a cohesive India, an India where no Indian lives in apprehension, tension or fear of the other.

INDIAN HEROES - NEW FROM 12/20/17

PATRIOTISM

Two of India’s dangerous trends: Misplaced Patriotism and intolerance towards different points of view.

The real heroes of India are those who relentlessly “criticize” the government because they do not want their government to falter and make decisions that will mess up the social structure of the nation. They keep the government rascals on their toes. After all, they are elected to serve us not the other way around. The real heroes rise the nation for the common good of all.

What do the Chamchas on the other hand do? They wear a false badge of patriotism and to them patriotism is oppression of those who differ, and war mongering. They cannot handle criticism of government, they are yes sir, yes sir I lick your chappals. They bring down the nation by keeping their man at helm in a bubble giving him or her false assurance that everything is alright.

I hope the Prime Minister wises up and invites and honors those who criticize him, they are the real supporters of him by reminding him from falling into the pit. He should welcome all those who criticize. He needs to defend the rights of such heroes. The Indian Citizens on the other hand need to make a conscious effort to support those who criticize the government, BJP or Congress or any one.

The test of a successful civilized nation is when every man and woman of India can breathe, eat, drink, wear and believe whatever the hell she or he wants to believe.

UPRIGHT BUREAUCRATS

These are the public service heroes; officers who go against their political bosses to do the right thing for India, i.e, every Indian. We will be developing the list as we go forward. You can send in your entries to MikeGhouseforIndia@gmail.com

UPRIGHT BUREAUCRATS

ABOUT MIKE GHOUSE

Mike Ghouse is committed to his life mission of building cohesive work places, communities and nations. His work is for the Indians and Americans where each one of the 322 million Americans should feel secure without apprehension or fear of the other.

He is one of the 5 people in the world who is actively pursuing research, activism and teaching the subject of Pluralism. Just Google and find a tremendous amount of work on pluralism in religion, politics, society and culture. Mike defines Pluralism as an attitude of “respecting the otherness of other” and accepting the God-given uniqueness of each one of us.

He is a pluralist, thinker, writer, activist and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, politics, Islam, human rights and foreign policy including India and Israel-Palestine. He is a news maker, interfaith wedding officiant and a community consultant and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

Dr. Ghouse has appeared in over 300 National TV shows and is a frequent guest with Hannity and Varney shows at Fox News along with others. He has over 1000 hours of Radio Shows of which 700 were dedicated to interfaith and pluralism. Over 3500 articles have been published of which a 1000 were on politics, foreign policy, sports and movies, a 1500 for interfaith and pluralism matters and a 1000 plus on Islam. In addition Mike has conducted workshops on Atheist to Zoroastrian and every one in between.

Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His work is at www.Centerforpluralism.com and www.WorldMuslimCongress.org

Welcome

We are proud of our heritage - a multi-faith, multi-cultural, multi-regional and multi-linguistic society, where we have come to accept and respect every which way people have lived their lives. For over 5000 years, India has been a beacon of pluralism - it has embraced Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Baha’i and Zoroastrianism to include in the array of the indigenous religions; Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. India led the way to the freedom movement, since 1947 every country has been liberated from colonialism. Indian democracy is a shining example to the world, where the people have peacefully transferred the powers. Indians are inherently secular and economically capitalistic. They believe in "live-and-let-live" life style, which is the essence of capitalism.Through the years we have expressed the highest degree of maturity on handling extreme situations; the more divergent opinions we hear, the larger our heart grows, the bigger our embrace would be and we can cushion more differences. Let’s continue to honor the concept that there is always another side to the story, as finding the truth is our own responsibility.I am proud of my heritage and am proud to be an Indian-American. Please join me in the discovery of India on a daily basis, as time permits and share the wealth of knowledge you have on this forum.

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